Description
The ROS service is used to check for potential matches between customer accounts in Community Connect and a registered sex offender registry. The registry used in Community Connect is Family Watchdog - a public, subscription-based online service where users can search by name, birth date, and state for potential matches against a registered sex offender database. The database is owned and maintained by Family Watchdog and access to the data is only accessible via the web service.
Requirements
Family Watchdog accounts are obtained on a territory-wide basis and maintained by the territory. Each account is issued an access token that the ROS service uses to authenticate to the Family Watchdog service.
The web service used to flag or clear matches is only accessible inside the corporate VPN so a user must be logged in to the VPN to access the links in the potential match emails/notifications.
Configuration
There are several configuration settings that can be set by the center to scan for potential matches:
Birth date Buffer (default: 5) specifies the maximum difference (in years) between the birth date specified in Community Connect and the registry that would qualify the entry as a potential match.
Membership Inactive Buffer (default: 60) specifies the number of days after a membership has passed the end date to continue running the member through the registry.
Minimum Age (default: 18) a member must be at least this age to run the name through the registry.
States (default: <none>) the list of state abbreviations to search. At least one state is required for the search to run.
Services (default: FILL, MATCH) specifies the services to run on a monthly basis. The available services are:
FILL fills the search queue with the list of members to scan (see details below on how members are queued).
MATCH runs the match queries against the registry to determine potential matches.
SALES fills and matches any recently added customers. This is run every 5 minutes by default and is not required to be set in the configuration options.
Email Recipients (default: <none>) specifies the list of emails addresses where notification emails for potential matches should be sent.
Loading the Search Queue
There are two occasions during which the search queue is loaded with customer records for searching the registry:
The SALES service scans when a new customer record is created, and
The monthly service runs when all memberships are scanned.
Sales Service Scans
The following customer records are loaded into the search queue when a new record is created in the database:
Any customer who is at least the minimum age years old, regardless of membership or activity status.
Because all new customer records are scanned this covers all members, activity participants, and/or rental customers.
Monthly Service Runs
The following customer records are loaded into the search queue on the first of each month:
Any billing customer who:
is at least the minimum age years old, and
has an active membership plan, or
the membership end date was less than the membership inactive buffer days ago.
Any family member who:
is currently linked to a billing customer found in the above criteria, and
is at least the minimum age years old.
Any customer without a membership plan who:
is registered for any class activity, and
is at least the minimum age years old, and
does not have a billing customer linked to their record, and
the class activity has taken place within the last month or will take place within the next three months.
When a Match is Found
When a potential match is found by the ROS service, an email notification is sent out to the emails configured in the options for the center. At this point a user response is required to determine if the potential match is actually a match or not.
If the user determines that the suggested match is not a match, the customer record is removed from the queue of potential matches and will be scanned again upon the next run if the customer meets the criteria specified above.
If the user determines that the suggested match is actually a match, the customer record is added to a match list. Once on the match list, the customer record is no longer queried in the registry. NOTE This does NOT automatically flag the customer as a DENY ENTRY customer. The user must update the customer's record in RMS to flag the customer and deny entry.